The Real Version of Case 5645 B
by hermione-amelia-rose1479
Summary: In Which Fury Chooses Stark's PA's prequel. What really happened when Emma was assigned to case 5654 B? Well, they certainly weren't expecting a cake-baking free-lance journalist obsessed with blue. Nor were they expecting a God of Mischief in-hiding after performing the impossible, to open up to her, the girl across the hallway (whose flat he may have destroyed the year before...)
1. Prologue

_Prologue_

_The facts were:_

_She was Emma Sherlock Holmes. Formerly from MI9 (STRIKE), the British James Bond-esque version of SHIELD. She was promoted (by promoted, moved) to SHIELD and was an equivalent to a level 8 Agent (she was pretty sure) (Like all American measurements, everything needed conversion from to things that made sense), her supervising officer was dead. Her brother was her former colleague at MI9 and was part of a correspondence team between the two agencies._

_Loki Laufeyson was believed dead after the alligning of the worlds, sacrificing himself. Yet it was a trick. His mother was dead, and he had impersonated Odin Allfather. The Reason? To bring her back. And he had succeeded. Basically, he was screwed, if not more, seeing as the place he decided to run to hated him more than anything._

_That was the truth. Over a couple of years, the tale was embezzled and glorified, a myth among Academy students. It was famed, case 5654 B was, hidden in ultimate security. Those facts remained the same, somewhat._

_What really happened in that month still remains unspoken by the two in question. Even after their marriage, children and grand children._

_The skills Agent Sherlock hand and the remaining goodness Loki had made a difference, it put a light on events. It showed how quick people could judge, just how mortal humans were._

_There were things, little things, that made that month so beautiful, so pretty._

_Like a rom-com._

_That was how it was meant to be played, how it was meant to feel, why Loki didn't catch on._

_And like in all rom-coms, they had no idea how much that month would eventually mean to them._


	2. Part 1

A/N: Hey guys. Welcome to all my old readers and to any new ones. This fanfiction is a prequel to my story In Which Fury Chooses Stark's PA's. I've tried to stick as close to canon as possible, which is why i wrote this after i watched Thor 2. Anyway, to any new readers, i don't think it's too necessary to have read my fic first, but to old readers, this might clear some bits up (like a couple)

Anyway, disclaimer: I own Nothing, everything belongs to Allfather Stan Lee

* * *

Case 5654 B

Part 1: The cupcake baking journalist from next-door

"LOKI!" Thor shouted. Loki kept flying his craft, _glad_ that for once it was his turn to fly. "LOKI COME BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!"

"What for?" Loki snorted, continuing to fly, dodging the beams that aimed to maim him, not to kill. Yes, so he _had_ sort of impersonated Odin, and _yes_ he _had_ brought Frigga back from dead using forbidden magic at the Allfather's humiliating loss, but it bought her back. Now for phase 2, running. He aimed his vessel for the edge of the bifrost, before magicking a duplicate of himself, making it look as if it were flying. Invisible, he dove under the depths of the water, pulling apart a cave wall with his magic and swimming through.

"It appears, my lord, we have lost him. I can no longer see him, he masks himself from us." Heimdall stated to Thor.

"Search all the 9 realms. Find him" Thor commanded. "We need him back... _I_ need him back…"

* * *

"All level 8 agents to a meeting. All level 8 agents to a meeting." The intercom buzzed. Emma did some quick maths, she was at SHIELD, right, not STRIKE, so it meant… yes, her. Emma picked up her laptop case and walked swiftly, and calmly to the meeting room, high heels clacking on the tiles of the floor. Walking through the doors, she found something she was not intending to see. Fury, Hill, Barton and Romanoff all standing at the head of the table. With a twang of pain, she realised who was missing: Coulson. He was dead, to be fair. Her SO, dead before she could even find out what the fuck was happening.

"Wait, sir, there's just 5 of us." Emma pointed out to Fury.

"We're aware. We have a situation, you may want to sit down." Emma nodded, taking out the chair and taking a sip from the mug of coffee that was placed before her by Barton. "You remember our conversation 'bout different levels and shit at STRIKE or, MI9 and SHIELD." Fury reminded. "You see, remember about a year ago, when Loki happened."

"Case 5654, yeah" Emma nodded "Romanoff and Barton running around in skin-tight outfits with admittedly hot counterparts."

"Well, things have _happened_ with Loki. From what Thor tells us Loki could be anywhere, so I'm assigning one of our best, because, we've found him. Thor won't risk anything and neither can we. We need someone Loki hasn't recognised. He's here, in New York." Fury debriefed, Emma flicked through the files, her eyes widening with some shock

"You know, I thought he'd be more of a London sort of dude." She said snarkily "Wait, why me? This is _Loki_, he fucking stabbed Coulson in the chest" Emma ran her hands through her hair, frustrated, pinching the bridge of her nose, knowing that there was no way out after being assigned. Then her eyebrows narrowed "Wait, no extraction plan?"

"Level 8s generally don't need one" Fury replied "And speaking of London, STRIKE will be keeping in contact, they've got issues with him too, after what happened in Greenwich."

"It's just… Coulson usually had one, just in case…" Emma mumbled softly, remembering how even if it was the smallest mission, Coulson had a little 'escape route' for her. "Yeah, so what do I need to do?"

"Gain his trust. Word is Loki is willing to make a public apology. He'-" Natasha started

"Oh shit, you want me to be a journalist? Yes?" Emma asked, gaining nods. "How should I play her?" determined now to do her job.

"Thor suggested like someone out of a rom-com." Clint admitted "Emma, if you could do London and Tokyo, you can do this"

"Yeah, but this bloke sort of demolished my flat, I'm _barely_ getting any insurance money back. And…" Emma sunk into her chair, unable to argue. "Okay… how long do I have until I inevitably die a horrible death?"

"A month, not a lot of time, we know" Fury replied "He's on his way I suggest you go and find him, monitor him. You may want to change your appearance, we have some state-of-the-art dye here, I hear Auburn mist is popular." Fury said snidely. Emma sighed, tutting under her breath, taking the large make-up kit if front of her and walking out of the door. Character in a rom-com, they said. Emma thought long and hard, deciding that she was to be bubbly, cute, bakes when she's bored, cute clothes and kitten flats. In short, everything, she, Emma, was not.

* * *

_Emma sat at the café table. Loki was her target. Not really target, but to monitor Loki. It had been an interesting day, looking at the photograph of Loki she was given, she looked back at the God. And rechecked. 'Shit'. Emma examined the eyes in the photograph and Loki's eyes now. They were goddamn green. Green. GREEN. They weren't blue, like in the picture, she had to recheck files on the Tesseract, how people were affected, there was only one way to check she was right. Taking out a couple of clip-on streaks, she adjusted her loose hair, up in a corporate up-do, she took off her leather jacket and replaced it with a black blazer, throwing off her flats in favour of the heels. As of now, she was Dawn O'Brien, journalist, all she needed was the paparazzi. And it looked like, she had one, as media swarmed Loki's current position, trying to get information out of his 'change' in personality. She checked her make-up bag for brown contact lenses and popped them in just in time to see the flood of questions._

_"Loki" One reported would cry out. All the same, boring questions, she could turn this into a comedy._

_"Mr Loki Laufeyson." Emma started, holding out her 'fake' microphone with a camera and microphone-recorder "You destroyed New York City once, why do you return now, a year later to make amends. Is this repentance or something deeper?" Emma's best American accent was put to the test, she just hoped she could fool the God of Lies._

_"It's concerning the possession of several people, due to the effects of the Tesseract, I have come to believe that I was placed under it's effects." Loki said, taking advantage of the shocked silence Emma had produced, before another influx of questions. Emma squirmed up to the front, snapping Loki's eyes, she vanished, eyeing the rather chic scarf he was wearing._

Emma pulled off the wig, running into the public restroom, slamming the cubicle door shut behind her. Rummaging around, she found the screen device, unfurling it and placing it on the door. She now had a mirror.

"Okay, goodbye Emma Holmes. Hello… Dawn O'Brien." Emma parted her hair in the middle, something she would never consciously do, pulling out the SHIELD hair-straightener, she attacked her ringlets, before sighing, chopping her tresses off to just above her shoulders. Black just _had_ to go, it was too _her_, reluctantly she sprayed her hair with SHIELD's patent spray-on dye that would only come off with the anti-serum. "Wow, John wasn't kidding when he said I'd look weird with strawberry blonde hair" she observed her reflection in the mirror, wiping off her winged eyeliner and quickly adding soft pencil liner. Her phone buzzed and she read the message from Hill:

'_Your brother will be monitoring you, if you want. Intercom at the ready'_

"Emma?" Lucas asked quietly. The voice seemed to be coming from her bag. She took out the ear-piece and placed it in her ear.

"Yeah, in the restroom. Just giving myself a home makeover. Reckon I should paint my nails sparkly pink or navy with polkadots." Emma grinned, pulling out her nailpolish, never mind the lunch-time queue beginning to line up. "Listen, I gotta go. Wondering if I can have a beetle from Fury, just for this mission"

"This is Fury, _not_ Director Bond." Lucas reminded. "Just… just stay safe. Don't do anything stupid"

"Lu, joining a secret agency was a stupid idea in itself. But, it was yours." Emma ended the call. Taking a deep breath, she pulled the screen from the door, shoving it into her bag, before exiting, smiling sweetly at the lady who took her cubicle.

* * *

Rain lashed the window of his flat. Well, it _could've_ been worse, for example, a prison cell where he couldn't do anything in _true_ privacy, without some façade of magic. 2 weeks on Midgard, it was somewhat decent, yet the media were hounding him. There were literal fleas, feeding off every _little_ thing. So he took to using a disguise in public, no doubt only Heimdall could see him. Yet even _he_ knew that there was no hope. He wasn't coming back. The treason he'd committed against Odin on it's own was enough to warrant a reason towards his self-inflicted exile.

Midgard was, somewhat interesting. Clothing was comfortable; apparently armour wasn't in fashion this millennia. Food was _alright_, how Thor liked those 'pop tarts', he didn't understand. Technology was _frustratingly_ hard to use and his flat that he had managed to rent from the landlady, was barely acceptable. However, it would have to suffice, he needed to think of his options. He flicked through the list of mortal journalists that he had collected. There wasn't very many he wanted to choose, as he'd very clearly decided earlier, they were fleas. Though, that woman earlier, she'd vanished, she seemed _fine_.

"No, tedious." He rejected yet another potential scribe. His midgardian phone, which he was getting quite attached to, hadn't rung, nor had his landline.

"OH MUFFINS!" a female voice cursed quietly in the hallway. Loki sighed, propelling himself from his wheelie office chair, before popping up at the front door, striding out to find a woman struggling with several boxes. "Crap, no, _can't_ lose this file. That needs to be sent…" she hissed under her breath, her hand pushing back her blondish-red hair behind her ear, wear a feather earring dangled down.

"Do you require help?" Loki asked tiredly, watching her trying to gather her files and boxes.

"No, I'm fine" she replied shyly, pushing her cherry-red glasses up her nose, her brown eyes meeting his green.

"Don't be ridiculous, it'll be quicker if I help." Loki sighed, picking up some of her files, holding the stacks. "It may have been wise to take two trips."

"Trying to save time, I have _lots_ of stuff to move." She laughed "I'm Dawn O'Brien by the way." This Dawn seemed to have a simple charm and ease about her, even if she was a bit shy. He could tell she was a quirky mortal, with her choice in clothing and all. The name rung a bell, he simply couldn't recall where he'd met her before. Her apartment was across the hall from him, he dumped her piles onto one of the tables and proceeded to help her bring up her luggage and boxes of appliances. "Thanks" she finally said, exhausted after they'd moved all her things from her green Volkswagen Beetle.

"What is it you do, out of curiosity?" Loki asked, before he exited.

"I'm a journalist. Free-lance." She handed him a calling card she'd pulled from out of nowhere. He read the card as he made his way back to his flat. "Just call for me if you need help!"

* * *

Emma threw herself into her Ikea sofa. She took a deep breath, hoping Loki hadn't noticed anything weird.

"Em?" Lucas asked through the feed "Like the accent thing you got going"

"Yeah." Emma replied, making her way to the kitchen, in desperate need of some alcohol.

"That was great, don't think he noticed. SHIELD have analysed your photos. You're right, his eyes _were_ blue during the Chiutari invasion." Lucas replied. Emma took a small sigh of relief before taking a sip of beer. Whiskey was too _her_, she reckoned Dawn was too badly paid to be able to afford proper wine.

"Does that mean anything? What about the Greenwich incident, was he involved with that?"

"Apparently not. His mother died during that." Lucas replied. Emma choked slightly on her beer, wiping her mouth, realising that her hand didn't have lipstick on it, like it usually would. "But he bought her back using dark magic, not to mention, he'd committed high treason. Thor said that Loki helped them out a lot. And apparently 'pretended to be dead'."

"What, he did a Moffat?" Emma asked, her eyes flicking towards the direction of his door. "Anyway, was that any good? Should I be playing rom-com music and washing the dishes, hoping he'll come through the door and ask for help? Oh, I should throw a house-warming party!"

"Who would you invite?"

"Exactly, I do a Toshiko Sato, and try to invite Loki. If I get him talking, I might be able to get him on our side. Start an article, I don't know. Listen, Lucas, I need you to get as much information as SHIELD can possible get on this Tesseract. And, what's this about infinity stones I'm hearing?"

"Don't know. Even here it's classified. Just tell me whenever if you need us to piss off. We have a camera in your living room, so, try not to do anything too weird. Yeah. I'll just let you unpack…"

* * *

"Yes, I will take it into consideration." Loki hung up his phone, ruffling his hair with frustration. He dumped himself on one of the chairs, flicking to see if there was anything decent on the television. As always, nothing, though… that _Sherlock_ looked interesting. After reading the manual, he figured out how to record the show, so he could watch it later. A soft knock was heard upon his door, he groaned, upset that he had to leave the comfort and safety of his chair. Loki walked down to the door, finding the woman he'd helped the day before at his door, with cupcakes. "Um…"

"Yeah, hi. I just thought I'd come over and bring you cupcakes." She said awkwardly, feet fidgeting, fingers tapping the edge of the silver tray she held, bearing chocolate cupcakes with ombré green icing. "You know, 'cuz you helped me out yesterday. I got most of my things unpacked and I baked just to see if my mixer hadn't broken on the way from my old apartment… But yeah. Also, I'm having a sort-of flat warming party tomorrow night, if you want to come… it's not like there's anyone that'd _want_ to come" she added in an undertone. Loki nodded slowly, slightly confused at the gesture and the woman. She was certainly a bit of an eccentric, the type that liked kittens and pink. Her chunky, oversized jumper was rolled up her arms, worn over a navy-blue polka dot dress that matched her painted nails, he noted it was different to her nails the day prior, when he had helped her pick up her files.

"Oh, thanks… I suppose." Loki took the tray off her, grinning just a little at the prettiness of the cupcakes. "Would you come in?"

"Um, yeah, sure." Dawn nodded pulling off her bubble-gum pink apron. Loki silently apologised for the state of his flat. He'd furnished it to his likings, green the most obvious theme in the house, in a one-bedroom flat, everything was cramped together. Dawn took to the living room section, sitting down upon the single-seat, politely leaving him the sofa. Loki internally remarked, that if it were Thor, he'd take the sofa.

"You're a journalist, are you not?" Loki asked

"Yeah, yeah I am" Dawn stated "Except I'm a free-lance. There aren't very many people willing to take me on. Also, being tied down just isn't my thing."

"Would you happen to have any samples of your work?" Loki asked quietly. He hoped she was decent, he was running out of time and choices.

"Yeah, I'll just run and get them" Dawn nodded, quickly moving from her chair, running out the door to her flat.

* * *

"FUUUUCK!" Emma muttered under her breath. She was glad SHIELD had come up with CV's overnight.

"Mind your language, dear sister" Lucas reprimanded. "Keep calm. We would bug his flat, but it would be too hard, anyway, you wrote them last night, didn't you?"

"Yeah, and the night before" Emma extracted the ice-blue manila folder, then taking the pale pink binder folder. "Okay, keep calm… what would the Doctor do? Just think of this as your audition for James Bond…." Emma checked her reflection one last time in the mirror, grinning at what looked like a perky, cute, bubbly ginger/blonde in the mirror. Emma crossed the landing, re-opening Loki's door. Emma had only just noticed, Loki's flat was the flip-side of hers, both architecturally and aesthetically. Emma's flat was more light, airy and seemed as if it were bigger on the inside, whereas Loki's flat seemed much more cramped, darker and shut off to society.

"Your writing is intriguing" he remarked flicking through some of her articles "From what I know, none of these are mainstream magazines?"

"Yeah, I'm trying to get into a more prominent one. Like the _Times_ or _Daily Telegraph_. Preferably something trustworthy and renowned. Nothing biased, just the truth, as it should be" Emma laughed internally at the irony of the statement and what she was doing right now.

"Can I trust you?" Loki asked softly. Emma, well… Dawn raised a brow, pushing her glasses further up her nose.

"Depends." She grinned cheekily

"Would you care if I were to ask you a quick questionnaire? Nothing too personal, all for the sake of whether you could do this." Loki suddenly grinned, charming her. Well, it was certainly working, his eyes hadn't broken contact with hers. Emma hoped she had the grace to blush, before she sat a bit straighter in her seat, nodding in agreement. "Good, shall we begin?"

* * *

Loki stared hardly at her, observing her body language. He inhaled and decided upon his first question.

"What would you call the 'truth'?"

"Truth?" she verified. He nodded, inwardly smirking wondering if she was going to be up to the challenge. He watched her bit her lip, her deep, brown eyes watching her hands as if they were the most intriguing thing, she looked up, finally deciding. "Truth is relative"

"Is it?" Loki asked, he smiled, just a bit, finding her answer interesting. She'd given him a statement, not an answer, she was clever, in her own way, Loki thought. She hadn't given him the entire answer, to her, he was just a fish, those three words the bait, and the small smirk she wore was the hook that would inevitably lead to the next sentence she would utter.

"Truth is only useful whenever it is required. What is the point of telling a harsh truth that would cause the loss of a valuable thing, when a beautiful lie is what gains you your allies and it is your advantage in war. Truth can only flourish under the right circumstances, otherwise it is disregarded and ignored. Truth is the weapon any smart person would wish for in war, because in reality, the cheaters survive. How many wars do people fight, without knowing the truth?" She finished, taking a breath.

"I'm impressed. I rarely hear eloquent answers" he drawled. "Why free-lance?"

"Because fuck society, that's why." She said suddenly. Loki choked on his own spit, surprised at the sudden harshness in her tone.

"Really?"

"Tabloids only sell what they want, the truth is selected from snippets among lies and filth. Murdoch and his cohorts pay journalists to be their puppets, make it look like this world is a utopia… or a dystopia more often than not. Tv journalists are just playing ventriloquist with a script, everything bland, everything so fake and plastic. Free lancing means no-strings attached, I can divulge what I want, get paid, then not be expected to do the same again. Free lancers are effectively bringing down the façade that is the newspaper with these sudden bursts. Most free lancers are hacktivists: Assange, Snowden, The Rising Tide, all of them want the truth, unaltered and not objectified. But they won't give it to us. Free lancing means finding out for yourself what is wrong with the world, and writing a sarcastic article while at it." Dawn finished, pushing her glasses up her nose. He could feel it, the rage within her. And if she was anything like he, he could trust her rage.

"One final thing, what is your family to you?" Loki asked, he hoped he could catch her off guard. He wanted to trust her, but simultaneously, he wanted to prove to himself he was beyond help, he shouldn't be sitting here enjoying this.

"My family? I ignore them" Loki raised a brow, slightly shocked at her answer. Not that he couldn't relate in some form, but he hadn't expected her sort of… person to be like that. "Not because I don't love them… but what I do puts them in harm's way. Well, that's half of it. The other half was that when I took Journalism, my dad kicked me out of the family will. Imagine, losing your birthright to your cousin and his whore-of-a-trophy-wife" she said derisively, giving a bit of a snort.

"No, trust me, I know…" Loki said

"Dad just… wasn't expecting me to become a journalist. A free- lance at that. I mean, he should've seen it coming with me in the journalism club and everything in high school. My English teachers _adored_ me" she said with some pride "So did my mother, until she left us for someone she loved more than dad. That's sort of when he started to lose it with me. My sister, Kate, always eclipsed me, she was older, smarter, prettier, a freaking cheerleader."

"Blonde?"

"Yep"

"I can relate" Loki said with a small laugh. Dawn grinned just a little, before continuing.

"Kate, sort of cared, she let me rebel, she found me my first apartment, until it was demolished." Her eyes flashed at him, before she let go of an extremely terrifying and sarcastic "_Thanks_"

"I'm sorry"

"That's what I'm here for, isn't it? Justify what you did and stuff. Anyway, family for me: is an idyllic state that society impresses upon all of us. But my biological family was something that I should never have been allowed near with a ten-foot stick. Family to me is watching a father come home late from work every night, before finding out he was having an affair; a mother who was a perfect homemaker and a history of self-harm and a track record with suicide-watch, the sunshine in my cloudy day, before it became overcast and perpetually down poured with my tears; and a sister who was the perfect golden princess in my dad's eyes, who seemed to be able to do everything perfectly and occupied both hers and my spot in the community."

"I'm sorry" Loki said genuinely.

"Don't apologise. They're people I barely associate with, yet feel some obligation to distance myself from to prevent unwanted threats" she said with some dismissal and regret. "Anyway, what _am_ I here for?"

"If I were to tell you that you could make your parents proud and gain a job for _BBC correspondence_, would you believe me?" Loki leant forward of his knees, grinning. He'd found her, the right one, the one he could trust. Look at her, she sat there cute, adorable and bubbly, yet with three simple questions, unlike so many, she was 3 dimensional, she was capable of depth, hurt, rage, emotion and sarcasm.

"Why would I want to make my family proud?" She laughed slightly, before looking at him directly. "Anyway, I know a lost cause when I see one" Loki felt slightly downtrodden for a second, before she added "However, you're _not_ one. I'm in. How long do we have?"

"A month" Loki said definitively.

"Great"

* * *

"We got him" Emma said to Lucas, while she sat in her bathroom, doors closed, forever monitoring her flat.

"I know, that was great." Emma could feel the beam from the other side of the ear-piece. "SHIELD's happy. Just keep doing whatever you're doing, because it's working. Send me something to send to SHIELD, so Thor doesn't freak out and whatever."

"Yeah, speaking of freaking out, how's Charlotte?"

"She's in Buenos Aires, a mission for MI9." Lucas replied "Daisy-petal's fine, missing her mummy a bit though."

"I'd expect that" Emma laughed "Oh _god_ I look weird."

"Just dye your hair brown and say it's naturally brown" Lucas suggested. Emma nodded in agreement, before taking out the ear-piece, placing it in the sink to burn. All evidence needed to be discarded, she'd be sent a new one the next day in her mail.

* * *

Loki poured himself a bottle of wine, raising the glass in salute to himself, he drank, placing the empty wineglass in his kitchen sink. He found her, he could finally see some sort of salvation.

* * *

A/N: Thanks guys, tell me what you thought and please check out my other fic :)


	3. Part 2

A/N: hey guys, to any reviewrs from last chapter, thanks and here's the chapter

Disclaimer: i own nothing

* * *

Case 5654 B

Part 2: She may not be soufflé girl _exactly_

'_Come in anytime she said, bother me, she said, if you ever need help just barge in, she said'._ Loki thought internally, now slightly regretting his choice in journalists, as he made his way through her apartment, the sound of the song _My Girl_, getting louder the closer he got to her. He found her dining table littered with baking trays and she was humming the tune of the song under her breath, mixing the bowl, dancing around the small space of her kitchen to the beat.

"Oh, sorry, didn't see you!" she exclaimed, placing the bowl on the kitchen bench, turning down the music of her, what he believed was called an iPod dock.

"Yes, I've filled out this form you asked me." Loki said curtly, gaining second-hand embarrassment at how awkward the situation was and how adorable Dawn was being. "Miss O-"

"Please, it's Dawn, you're sounding like that hot college professor I had once that half the guys in the class slept with" Dawn blurted, laughing slightly. Loki nodded, slightly confused, still not understanding how mortal minds worked sometimes.

"I was going to ask you to show me how to use these midgardian devices…" Loki said.

"Sure, as soon as I get these into the oven, would you mind helping?" Dawn asked. Loki obliged, taking one of the bowls she had. Like most of her possessions, even her bowls were ice-blue. Loki took the light blue silicon spatula, filling the paper cups with chocolate cupcake mixture, while she placed a layer of vanilla atop, swirling the two together to create a marbled pattern. As soon as they had finished filling the two-dozen cups, she placed them into her oven, setting the timer. "What is it you need help with?"

"Everything." Loki admitted. Dawn followed him across the landed, into his flat. "Okay, this, please explain." Loki pointed to a rectangular device with two slits at the top.

"Toaster, there's a setting for how long you want it to cook for. Put your slices of bread in, and they cook it for you." Dawn explained brightly.

"Okay, this." Loki pointed to a metal pot with a spout.

"Kettle. I have an electric one because I'm a bit of a heavy tea drinker." Dawn admitted "Tea's great, I should show you this cool place a couple of blocks down. Anyway, you fill it with water, boil it on the stove. Voila, liquid hug."

"Lovely. This?" Loki handed her a circular press with indentations on the interior.

"Ooh, you have a waffle press?" Dawn asked excitedly

"Apparently." Loki replied, observing it. "So I suppose it needs a batter."

"Yeah, you can find the recipe online. I can send you some, if you want. I know _heaps_ of great recipes. I can take you shopping tomorrow" She replied enthusiastically, placing the appliance at it's special place of honour. They went through the entire apartment. Mortals _seriously_ made things much harder for themselves than it should be, then he realised, they didn't exactly have magic. Dawn took him down to the Laundro-mat on the ground floor, explaining how it worked and showing him a couple of things at the subway, before she returned to her flat and took her perfectly cooked cupcakes out of the oven to cool.

* * *

"I can't believe I just did that" Emma muttered quietly, lying in her bathtub, drowning her fears and sorrows in the warm water, the scent of lavender calming her, as bubbles played delicately on the surface of the water.

"Are you taking a bath?" Lucas guessed

"Fuck it, I'm freaking out. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Anyway, has SHIELD gotten back on those tabloids?"

"Yeah, they have. I can't believe you're getting this close. Fury's getting a little bit pissed." Lucas added underhandedly.

"Why _is_ MI9 getting involved, I mean, I'm in the colonies for crying out loud" Emma asked

"I really don't know. It's a high-profile case, Loki's people are really, really determined to find him. But they can't _just_ take him, I mean, how chaotic would that be? We'd have another Stuttgard on our hands"

"Yeah, fair enough. But… it just doesn't make sense" Emma's eyebrows met, she rubbed her face, trying to calm down. "Look, I promised to take him shopping tomorrow. Tell Fury minimal security, otherwise he'll get suspicious, and next thing we know, this whole case is crashing around our ears"

"Okay, so maybe people up high on security cameras?" Lucas suggested

"That might be best…" Emma suddenly had a brainwave, adding "Before you go, can somebody deliver me truth serum? I reckon he likes my cupcakes" she smiled, remembering how eagerly the god took her offer of cupcakes.

* * *

"It really wasn't necessary for you to drive" Loki said, fiddling with his hands, in the front seat of her (he was sure it was called a car) car.

"I reckon you could take a driving test. I can see you in a Porche or something, wearing those shades" Dawn grinned, referring to his eyewear. "I can't wear shades, unless they're prescription, because two layers of glasses aren't exactly fun or cool"

"Where _exactly_ are you taking me?" Loki inquired, not sure if he should've come on this trip. Dawn was acting more like a friend, instead of a business partner, but she was eager and literally the only one he was _sure_ he could somewhat trust.

" Fuck, hate this traffic" she added under her breath. "Shit, shit shit"

"Tell me, how do you go from domestic goddess to cursing like, I believe, a sailor in under two seconds" Loki asked cheekily, trying to lighten her mood.

"I don't know…" she replied lightly, glad the traffic had finally moved. "Anyway, should I start interviewing you? We have time to kill." As they stopped at a red light, Dawn pulled a phone out of her pocket. Loki took it from her, swiping across and choosing the recorder option. He was getting better at life on Midgard, certainly, if he and Thor were to be placed in the same situation, Thor would've died by now, or starved to death. In fairness, Thor wouldn't have Dawn's baking to live off.

"Okay, so I just want you to say your name" Dawn said

"Um… Loki Laufeyson…" Loki said, to really sure what he was doing.

"Now, I want you to tell me your life story." She grinned, while driving.

"Are you sure?" He asked, there were about 30 000 years-worth of life stories and dramatic tragedies to get through.

"Yup. Fire away" she stated.

"Well. I was found by Odin, left to die in a ruined Temple in Jotunheim"

"Jotunheim?" Dawn asked inquisitively "Is that one of the realms?"

"One of the 9." Loki explained "Do you know of Yggrdrasil?"

"Heard of it. The Norse world tree, yeah?"

"Well, there are 9 realms. Asgard is where I grew up, realm of the gods and such. The rest aren't very important. Then there's Scartalfheim, home world of the dark elves, Midgard, your realm, Jotunheim my biological home and Hel. That's where my daughter rules." Loki finished

"You have a daughter?" Dawn asked, interested "Brilliant, I can use this angle."

"I also have a few sons…" Loki added unsurely not able to determine if it was helpful or not

"Wife?" Dawn asked

"No."

"Partner, at all?" Dawn asked "I mean, in Norse Mythology there's Sigyn, never mind. Okay, single dad." Dawn breathed, calmly turning the car around a sharp bend so suddenly, that Loki nearly slammed into her. He poured out his life story, hid childhood, learning magic from Frigga, getting picked on a lot. It wasn't the most idyllic childhood, certainly, but it was one nonetheless. He recalled practical jokes he'd played on his so-called friends, things he'd been forced to do. His children, Loki always talked about his children, maybe he could sympathise with people through them.

"They sound charming, i think it's lovely you have them on your armour" Dawn noted "Music, what sort of music are you into?"

"I wouldn't know." Loki admitted, now questioning himself, kicking himself for not listening to much Midgardian music. "Back on Asgard, there was always music, not many genres"

"Hmm, well, i'll send you a playlist. Fashion?"

"Why _are_ you asking me this?" Loki asked, slightly irritated

"Hey, trying to get you into any possible magazine. I'm sure Vogue would _love_ you." Dawn justified, glaring angrily at him through her dashboard mirror.

"Well, your haute couture looks fascinating. Gods help me if i ever wear those drop-waisted jeans your youth wear"

"Don't you fucking dare." Dawn warned "If you're going with sex-appeal, which you have plenty of-" Loki nearly snapped his neck to look at her "I suggest you stick to classy things. Not 50 year-old white republican politician clothes while on the golf course; but tailored suits and tight-fitting dress shirts, you get my drift. If this goes viral, you might want to consider getting a twitter."

"Twitter?"

"Social networking. 140 characters of whatever's on your mind or needs to be said. Famous people have twitter, they have gazillions of followers, I mean, Tony Stark's hit like 2 billion or something the other day since he started."

"Well then, might want to try and beat his score" Loki challenged

"Sure you'd want to. But don't turn it into a living documentary. Oh, and never mention me, i don't exactly exist"

"What do you mean?" Loki asked, confused, why was she here then? Was this what he felt she was hiding? He wasn't sure...

"Had a couple of underground associates help me out when I turned rogue after college. Yeah, my real name's Dawn O'Brien, but if you paid attention to my writing, I'm also Alison Cliff, Miranda Hart, Mary Stratford, Vanessa Spright, Tegan Welsh and there's a myriad"

"I'm impressed" Loki conceeded, smirking slightly "And you change your appearance each time"

"Not exactly a natural ginger, I've got this mousy-brown thing going for me, used to be a bit blonder as a kid. Last account was under the name Deanna Troi, one of these characters from a show my sister used to watch, she had long hair, so, so did I" Dawn explained. Loki listened hard, yes, he'd known she'd been hiding something, he could sense it in her occasional hesitance, but he wasn't expecting it to be so simple, perchance, he was over-reacting and naturally defensive. Loki weighed his choices and decided maybe it would be much simpler to trust her fully, allow her to gain whatever information he needed. She was his only hope. Or at least he thought.

"Fascinating" Loki managed to say finally, exhaling the word.

"What?"

"You haven't been persecuted"

* * *

"I think you spoke to soon" Emma said, as Loki walked into her apartment. There were two unconscious men lying on the floor, a couple of flour packets having exploded (she thanked Coulson for that lesson) after making impact with their faces. She was glad he hadn't heard her violent assault, but it was pretty silent to be completely honest.

"Remind me not to piss you off." Loki muttered, taking a seat. Emma closed the door behind him. "Would you like help with the bodies?"

"Yes please, just down the garbage chute, please. No need to mutilate them, as much as I'd like to, but they're some of Murdoch's hit men, so it wouldn't be very wise. I would've liked them to burn to crisp, but the incinerator isn't lit today" Emma lied, well, they were hit men, just some from the Japan account the year before.

"Of course" Loki said charmingly, offering her his hand, as they pulled two extremely heavy men into a small rubbish chute, probably only half a metre by half a metre. "There, so what was it you summoned me here for?" he asked as they sat in the kitchen, where the food was "Oh, and that music was delightful, who is it?"

"Michael Buble" Emma replied, internally laughing though. "So, I've written up these drafts for you. Vogue, Time a couple of noted psychology and science magazines and quite a few 'nerd' magazines are into this idea. Not to mention all the tabloids, so I've written appropriate 'Tell-All' articles. Vogue is the most exciting because they're calling you in for a photoshoot, apparently you've got cheekbones sharp enough to cut a man" Emma said excitedly, deciding it would be very Dawn-like to bounce on the balls of her feets, making her kitten flats look as if they were real, excited kittens.

"Wow, it's very impressive." Loki said finally, after reading them all, and about half a cup of coffee later. "You're saying they're all interested?"

"Well, I chose the right tabloids for your image. I didn't choose any trash-rags or sexist-teen-mags, it has to capture the right audience. Listen" Emma moved closer to Loki, now they were breathing the same air. It was frankly terrifying. "I did some things with underground people, and I was wondering about SHIELD-"

"Forget them" Loki said curtly

"Why? They could offer you a hell of a lot more than any of these people, Loki." Emma protested, though, she knew she was eating her own words. She was probably over-stepping the boundary.

"SHIELD is the reason why I'm here, they're the exact people I'm running from, and you expect me to beg for mercy?" Loki asked, as if she were stupid. Well, she was, in a way.

"No, I mean, the events of New York are almost like a distraction from the real plan, aren't they? Take over Asgard? You needed to be captured, and you knew that SHIELD would send you back with Thor because the have no authority over you. You'd be back exactly where you needed to be, right in the middle of it all. Now, no one was really expecting the 9 realms to line up"

"How did you-?"

"Research. Or Frigga to die. Now, if you were to die, you knew that even a teensiest little bit of the universes' worst father would want to see the body. If all had gone to plan, you would've killed him and then taken over, but you needed to bring Frigga back, so you immobilise and hide him from that Heimdall guy you talk about, use your forbidden magic and knowledge in books hidden under Odin's lock-and-key, and Voila! Your plan is complete. You were rightful King of Asgard. Not that you weren't already, seeing as Frigga did rightfully proclaim you King in Odin's absence. However, the fault is with Odin for disregarding it. Speaking of that absolute douche, what sort of parent banishes their child to a world they know they'd probably die on? I'm not asking you to beg, you know they could use you as a valuable asset, didn't you hear me? They have no authority over you." Emma finished her rant, watching the effect on a mind-blown Loki, who slowly started to laugh. "What?" she challenged

"No one would've realised that" he continued to laugh "They certainly have a reason for wanting you locked behind bars"

"As do you" Emma retorted in Dawn's designated cute way, before the two of them made eye-contact and further laughed. "It's nearly dinner, you eaten yet?" Emma changed the topic before she would unwittingly release any classified SHIELD information.

"No, why?" Loki asked

"Maybe it's time I introduced you to Shwarma and some hipster-underground music" Emma decided, as Loki assisted her in putting on her coat, the pair walking out of her apartment. Emma exhaled deeply, hopefully she could pull this off. How the fuck was she going to get out of this one?

* * *

Thanks guys for reading, next chapter will be up soon, but probably not until after christmas. So a very, very, very merry christmas to you all and i hope you enjoy yourselves. All i want for christmas is a review or two (or preferably quite a few), I love reading them, so if you wouldn't mind. Again, a very big thanks to all of you reading this.


	4. Part 3

A/N: hey guys, hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Anyway, here's the latest update. I've pretty much written up the rest of this fic, so I'll be updating this at the same time as it's sister fic: In Which Fury Chooses Stark's PA's

* * *

The Real Version of Case 5654 B

Part 3: The modelling-singing-dancing-parenting-genocidal-maniac across the hall (with a 6 pack)

"Dawn?" Loki opened her front door. Emma hoped she had the adorable grace to blush slightly as he found her in a black, silk night-gown (yes, it barely covered her underwear, it was _that_ short) and a pair of cat slippers standing in the middle of her living room with a cuppa. "Oh, sorry to intrude." he stared at his feet "Would you care terribly if i use your shower, mine appears not to be working"

"Yeah, sure. Tell me if you need anything" Emma replied in the best accent she could muster, after just waking up.

"Did he catch you in your underwear, dear Sherlie?" Charlotte, bloody fucking Charlotte was on her com. How the hell did she get it? "I'll call you on your phone, it'll be less suspicious, just try not to look dazed, honey, it doesn't look attractive on your face" True to her word, Emma's phone rang, answering it, Emma whispered quiet abuse at her best friend, who was probably sipping on a hazelnut latte in London.

"I fucking hate you" Emma muttered, still using her accent in case Loki heard. Though, to be honest, it was all incoherrent mutter from her side.

"Anyway, your SHIELD seems pretty pissed at your fake reveal of identity. Fury says it should've been over a candle-lit dinner. Apparently it's not cute enough"

"What does he want me to fucking do? Bake naked or something?" Emma hissed

"Probs" Charlie admitted cheekily, as Emma took the conversation into the bedroom to fetch a robe to throw on top of her (it probably was classified as lingerie) sleep wear. That being done, she turned up the tv loud enough, so she could just hear her conversation with Charlotte. Blinding light was now seeping through the gaps of her window shutters, and Emma released something akin to a vampire's hiss as it pierced her eyes. "Listen, I'll give this back to your sweet Lucas to do. Once again, you're doing fabulously, just keep him intrigued and in business. Toodles" with that flamboyant note, Emma ended the call, she could practically feel the enigmatic and pixie-like wave Charlotte would be giving through the other side of the call.

"Is that really necessary?" Emma asked, as Loki walked out of her bedroom with nothing but a towel wrapped around his hips, revealing his tall, well-cut figure, leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination. There was a living Nordic-fuck-fantasy in her room, and unfortunately she couldn't tap that rather good-looking ass.

"Yes." Loki said, while raiding her fridge for some rogue cupcakes, so he _was_ obsessed with her baking, she'd spiked the last couple of batches, so hopefully she could get more information out of him, and convince him to join the good side of the force. Emma continued to watch television, before deciding to join him with his discovered horde of cupcakes.

"What happened?" Emma asked shocked, finding sight of his pale back, covered in multiple whiplashes, they had faded considerably some of the lighter lashes now pale silver, but the deeper lashes were still pink. Emma sat on the back of his seat, her fingers lightly touching the scars , before Loki winced and Emma put her hand away. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't ask" There was a bit of a tense pause, she was sure he could feel her warm breath against his own neck.

"No, it's fine. You may find it useful. When I fell from Asgard, which for the record, was a genuine suicide attempt." Loki took a deep breath, he was speaking over his shoulder to face her as politely as he could "Thanos found me, he tried asking for unspeakable things, and I was tortured. Whipped, burned, isolated, starved, heat torture and whipping the far worst. But, he deemed that I be kept alive, before being tortured again for his amusement. Then I found a way out, wage a menial war on earth, then continue my original plan."

"I'm sorry"

"I executed the plan, but the scars still haven't healed properly." Loki admitted "There, you have your pity case"

"I don't pity you." Emma said coldly, deciding it would be the right time to play this part of Dawn's personality "I sympathise. And I know that the general public won't pity you, but this will help with their slow acceptance. A man once said, to be cruel is to be kind, I suppose that would be going through your head with whatever I do. And I suppose, it is my form of revenge, after all, I lost my flat."

"Your far cleverer than most of this race, Dawn, admit it" Loki said with a sense of finality, smirking.

"No, that's just my inner Philosophy under-grad speaking" Emma retorted, taking one of her chocolate cupcakes and eating half of it in one go. "And, your hair has got to go"

"No."

"Yes."

* * *

"I can't believe you're serious" Loki deadpanned, as Dawn sat him in a chair, weilding a device that blew hot air out of it's spout, and a pair of scissors.

"Yes, this 70's look has got to go. You look like you're addicted to heroin" Dawn said, spritzing his hair with cold water, making him gasp in shock. Her brush was literally tearing it's way through his black, tangled hair.

"No, no, don't you dare" Loki warned as she tauntingly played with the scissors between her soft, hands.

"Do what?" She asked innocently as she loudly cut off a large portion of his tresses.

"No!" Loki exclaimed angrily, to find Dawn calmly (and rather tiredly) yawning "I absolutely hate you"

"No, I know you don't"Dawn replied, repeating the snipping action with the scissors, continuing to even out the back of his hair. His patience with her was wearing very thin, she acted as if she could do whatever she wanted with him, dress him and clothe him and style him like a doll. He supposed this hair-cut was Sif's version of karma, after he had cut off her golden locks (yes, they _were_ golden), but he had to admit, the darker colour suited her more. "Okay, how's this?"

"I suppose it'll suffice" Loki muttered grumpily, as she held up a mirror with one hand, blowing away any stray hairs with the 'blow-drier' using her other hand, before parting and styling his hair.

"There, sexier already" Dawn said, proud of her achievement. Now, I'll help you with your wardrobe later. Anyway" She ran to get a stack of newspapers "The interviews have been published. They're asking for more, I told them you wouldn't talk to anyone else. So they've sent me questions, and I'll write them up. Vogue's scheduled for tomorrow, so you'll enjoy that" Loki rolled his eyes, dusting remaining hair from the back of his neck, that was prickling him. "You might have to do Children's TV if this call gets through"

"Yes, thank you" Loki said, standing up from her seat, pulling his shirt down, walking past a batch of cupcakes. "Would you mind?"

"Nope, help yourself" Dawn smiled, polishing her glasses on her kitten jumper. "If you want me to try a recipe, just send it to me. Oh, speaking of sending. If anything crosses your mind, just send me an e-mail here" Dawn scribbled something on a piece of ice-blue note paper, handing it to him "You've figured out how to use the Internet. Do me a favour, watch something else other than cat videos"

"But they are admittedly adorable" Loki defended his Internet history

"You could try looking stuff up?" Dawn suggested "Watch TV shows. Like, I watch Sex and The City re-runs. Download some music? Learn an instrument. _You_" she jabbed her sharp finger at his chest "Need a hobby other than plotting world domination"

* * *

Emma laughed, sitting in the corner, as she started to draft a copy of her article for Vogue. Loki had already tried on several outfits, it was quite hilarious actually, watching him enjoy himself. He could _so_ make this a professional career.

"How's it going at Fashion HQ?" Lucas asked through her com

"Laughable" Emma breathed, masking any sounds by typing hard and hacking into the volume of the playing music. "What's SHIELD saying?"

"Interesting choice, Vogue. Nick Fury laughed, saying that 'Real Power' was getting a magazine. Hasn't stop laughing ever since." Lucas said "What's he looking like?"

"Take Tom Hiddleston, drain him of blood and give him Benedict Cumberbatch _Khan_ hair from the _Star Trek_ promo pics." Emma described, glad she could finally make a fandom reference. "To be honest, he's rocking the photoshoot, all the women and men on set are unaturally aroused. Which I _don't_ understand" Emma added hastily, looking at all the women on set, dying internally just a little bit.

"Emma, do me a favour, buy more pepper spray, if your articles gain a wide audience, you're pretty damn screwed" Lucas warned "Loki is _the_ article. Everyone's trying to get him. You've got consecutive _exclusive_ articles. People might talk"

"Great, I get shipped" Emma spat sarcastically "I wouldn't even tap that even if I was paid"

"Not even if I bought you comic-con tickets?"

"Okay, _maybe_ for comic-con tickets" Emma admitted. _Wow_, she was willing to whore Loki just to get into comic-con. That was _certainly_ a development.

"This is _Loki_, in Norse Mythology the dude's a smokin' piece of ass." Lucas reminded "You could play with that. Sex-appeal"

"I've told him that, hopefully he doesn't start believing it" Emma freaked slightly, re-reading her first couple of paragraphs. Emma waved happily at Loki, as he moved to go and put on his next outfit, she was informed they were moving to the set next-door. Picking up her laptop, she followed the photography crew. She felt herself grinning like an idiot, as he tentatively paid attention to all the instructions given to him. His dancing skills we to _kill_ for, as he danced with a model for an action shot, on top of the bed. Well, they _weren't_ wasting the opportunity were they? Emma went back to scrutinising her over-all plan. How were SHIELD going to come into all of this? That was the point, wasn't it? Get him on _their_ side? Did the mission even have a point?

* * *

"So, these are red velvet, double-choc and rose cupcakes" Dawn placed the cupcake holder on her table, as she took the seat opposite him. "I was experimenting and my brain went 'what the hell?' when I found some rosewater in my pantry." Loki took a careful bite, rather enjoying the sweet, flowery taste. He admired the realistic-looking roses she'd made out of icing sugar, it reminded him of the scenes that Adgard's cooks used to make, they decorated his birthday cake and his mother would use her magic to animate the little fights between the frost giants and Asgardians.

"Oh, by the way" Loki pulled a wrapped present out of his coat pocket "You've put in quite a lot of effort" He watched Dawn's shocked expression turn into a shining grin as she unwrapped her gift.

"Oh my god, you really shouldn't have" Dawn protested slightly, as she found an ice-blue apron with a printed motif reading: Queen of Cakes. "Thank you _so_ much!" Dawn laughed, throwing her arms around him briefly, before hanging it up beside her oven mitts and coat.

"It's alright" Loki watched bemused, as she bounced on the ball of her toes, excited.

"By the way, you looked pretty good, back at the shoot" Dawn smirked "Enjoying ourselves, are we?"

"Oh _shut up_" Loki replied "You were enjoying it, weren't you?" Loki asked teasingly

"Yeah, it's fun watching you get enthusiastic at coats" Dawn admitted "Did they let you keep anything?"

"A couple of shirts, a coat, a few of the scarves" Loki counted off in his head "Oh, and those shoes"

"Lovely, I'll come to you for fashion advice, shall I?" Dawn laughed "Now, _that's_ out of the way. You've got a few interviews we need to sit through. Most of the questions are tell-alls about being _you_. Practically confessions and apologises. Some sibling rivalry questions, maybe we could play with that."

"There's no 'playing with that', it's just my internal monologue" Loki smirked

"Oh don't worry, most of the time, my internal monologue consists of saying how much I hate people." Dawn replied reassuringly. Together they edited a few of the paragraphs she'd written, Loki was impressed, sincerely, her work was outstanding. "And so I was considerin- Oh my gosh, my cakes" Loki snapped out of his somewhat-stupor, realising he hadn't been watching her screen, but her attentive face. He rubbed his face, trying to wake himself up, he had to admit, for an mortal, she was attractive. Loki moved over to Dawn, assisting her with removing the hot cakes from the tin tray, to the wire rack.

"Thank you, I'm really proud, I've never managed to pull these ones off yet. If I've done it right, the inside should be molten chocolate." Loki watched as Dawn pulled one of the rich, dark cakes onto a plate, her fork gently slicing through the light sponge. True to her wishes, chocolate smoothly oozed from the centre. "Would you like to try it?" Dawn offered him the plate.

"Are you sure?"

"No, it's not poisoned. Wouldn't dream of it" Dawn joked. Loki cautiously took a bite, the sweetness and the slight bitterness balanced out perfectly, he could eat this forever, but he also felt a slight spiciness.

"What is that?" Loki asked

"Chilli" Dawn replied "Bit of a kick. Oh, you've got chocolate" Dawn licked her thumb, wiping off some chocolate on the corner of his mouth. "Oh! I just figured out something" Dawn rushed from being tantalisingly close to him, to beside her laptop in a split second. Loki was slightly confused now, he had a feeling he was going to be confused for the rest of his time on Midgard. He looked at Dawn, typing something furiously, while her mobile started to mew like a cat. What in the name of Odin had he gotten himself into?

* * *

Okay, please, please review. I hope you enjoyed it, and If there's anything you'd like to suggest feel free to tell me :)


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